selil correctly reports that the consensus of economists is that the housing crisis will be a normal cyclical event. This is beyond the scope of this thread, but somewhat relevent. There is a minority opinion that this is the end of the post-WWII "debt supercycle" (coined by the people at Bank Credit Analyst)

Each US economic cycle since 1960 has ended with increased household debt. At some point we reach our maximum carrying capacity of debt. That might be now. The housing credit crisis may be the precipitating event. This is known as the Minsky Cycle, and we're at the Minsky moment.

For more on the housing down cycle I strongly recommend this analysis and forecast:
"The Recessionary Macro Effect of the Worst U.S. Housing Bust Ever" by Prof Nouriel Roubini (Economist, NYU). Brief and clear.